Kingston parking lot plan faces uncertain fate

KINGSTON, N.Y. -- A proposal to repair two municipal parking lots in Uptown Kingston is headed to the Common Council with at least one member saying he's firmly against it and another saying he's not sure.

Alderman Robert Senor, a democrat who's Eighth Ward is primarily in Downtown Kingston, said he will vote against any proposal to borrow money for the Uptown parking lot work.

Senor, who chairs the council's Laws and Rules Committee, said he also objects to installing parking meters in the lots.

The council, in the past, "has gone around and around and around" about parking meters in municipal lots and ultimately decided against them, he noted.

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Alderman Bill Carey, a Democrat whose Fifth Ward is in Midtown, said he's "on the fence" about the proposal.

Carey chairs the council's Public Safety/General Government Committee, which is expected to review the parking lot plan later this month.

The parking lot repair proposal was made by Alderman Thomas Hoffay, a Democrat whose Second Ward includes the two lots, and it was Hoffay who raised the possibility of installing parking meters in the lots.

One of the lots is next to the Parent-Teacher Store on North Front Street; the other is across the street, next to Nekos-Dedrick's Pharmacy.

Hoffay, the council's majority leader, wants city lawmakers to authorize borrowing money to repair the two lots and he has said revenue from the meters could help offset the cost.

The lots, Hoffay has said, have cracks, potholes and rusted or damaged guardrails. He said they should be overhauled, in part, because they are in the city's historic Uptown area, which attracts both tourists, shoppers and diners.

Senor countered that the city should not add to its debt.

"Doesn't he realize that we are putting the city and our children in debt?" said Senor, who often is odds with Hoffay.

Senor also said the lots should stay free of meters because employees of Uptown businesses park in them, freeing up spaces on the streets for customers.

Hoffay said it's important that the city tend to its infrastructure, including the long-neglected parking lots.

"The parking lots not only serve the employees at businesses in Uptown, but they also serve the public -- people who go to the pharmacy, people who got to the stores, people who go to the restaurants at night," Hoffay said. "(The lots) get a lot of use for a lot of different purposes.

"Their condition has become an embarrassment," he added. "These things have to be done."

Hoffay initially said his parking lot plan could cost $1 million, but he later backed away from that estimate, saying it would have included the cost of building a parking deck.

Hoffay ultimately agreed with Mayor Shayne Gallo's position that the repairs could be done for much less money. City Department of Public Works Superintendent Michael Schupp has estimated the cost at $200,000 based on an analysis his office did a couple of years ago.

Gallo has said he supports refurbishing the lots but is not keen on installing meters.